TSB Issued for Buzzing rattle in dashboard

There’s a sensor under the dash - middle close to the windshield- that vibrates against the underside of the dashboard under certain conditions. Early build 2016 prius. Including my car. It’s annoying. It would also be very difficult to fix the problem - take apart the entire dashboard to put a foam damper on the rattle. There are posts on priuschat about this issue.

 

When its 32 degrees out my wipers rattle on the windows its annoying but you can but on the defroster and heat and it does go away.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Anyone get this rattle/buzz in their Gen2 Prius?

Any fixes for this? Searched the forums, but could find anything...

 

Have you checked there is not a CD or foreign object stuck in the player as it sounds a bit like something is trying to rotate but can't.

EDIT: Ignore above as in your other post you mention it is connected to heater controls.

 

Thank you for this, I have the same problem in my 2018. I tracked it down to that trim piece, but would never have figured out it's something underneath without your post.

 

I had this problem, turns out it was my metal sunglasses in the holder near the ceiling vibrating and the sound was just very deciding.

 

We had the same problem with our 2016 and I was very persistent in making the dealer fix it. It helped that I gave them recordings I had made with my iPhone on the drivers side floor on the left. They removed the dash twice and tightened all bolts. It took 3 trips to the dealer and leaving it with a service manager to drive many miles, but they finally found the source. It was a loose emergency brake cable. Once the slack was removed and tightened, the sound was gone.

 

What @CoolPrius described starting in post #39 appeared to be what I was experiencing, so I dug in. Yup! That's where it was.

What I noticed, though, in my case was that there didn't seem to be anything that could rattle, but there was a bundle of wires (which you can see in post #43, bottom picture). The heavy wrap on the wires was rubbing on the corner of that black plastic housing and it was making what sounded just like a rattle. So, to cover both bases, I put a pad on top of the housing like CoolPrius did, but I also wrapped a piece of wide, industrial velcro loop material around that wire bundle sheath. I did that about a month and a half ago and haven't had any rattles since.

 

Jerry - how did you get to the wire bundle? Did you take apart the dashboard, or go in from the side?

 

I only had to lift the top of the dash. But that involved removing both end speaker covers and the speakers as well as the A Pillar covers that hide the air bags on both ends. Those air bag covers are easy to pop loose, but hard to completely remove due to a hard to reach plastic retainer. I used a plastic spud to pop stuff off, but still managed to crack one of the clips that hold down the right end of the dash. If you go back to CoolPrius' entries in this thread, he has pictures showing the locations of those clips.

 

Thank you for the explanation, and yes Coolprius’ post is excellent. Kudos to you for being brave enough to pull the top off the dash. Those plastic retaining tabs are easy once you get the hang of it (removing them) but I’m afraid of breaking tabs and having a dashboard that makes more noise after the repair.

 

It was pretty nerve wracking as I pried at it. I guess I figured that the worst that could happen was that I'd end up buying a new top for the dash. But I was determined that I was going to stop that buzzing rattle. Thankfully, the crack in the one tab didn't have any negative impact once I reassembled everything. But I sure hope I don't have to do that again, because that tab would be unlikely to survive next time.

 

If you look around the web, there are numerous reports of various rattling noises on the 2018 Accord interior. I've been persistent in isolating these and getting them fixed, so I hoped a summary here would help others who are having this issue.